Creation4.Pent19C.25.9.2016

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A GATHERING LITURGY FOR THECELEBRATION OF LIFE25 September 2013. Season of Creation4/Pentecost 19C. (Green).Theme: Cosmos Sunday

Worth Pondering“Nature fills us with wonder and humility.As we try to make sense of it through science, or engage with itin a river with rod in hand or running up a mountain trail,we learn that what we grasp is but a tenuous threadconnected to an invisible wholeness”(Marcelo Gleiser)

For thousands of years Indigenous people have walkedin this land, on their own country.Their relationship with the land is at the centre of their lives.

We acknowledge the (NN) People and their stewardshipof this land throughout the ages.

(NN) is a safe place for all people to worship regardless ofrace, creed, age, cultural background or sexual orientation

GATHERING

Gathering Music

SilenceThe gong is sounded three times

Lighting of the Community CandleThe Community Candle is lit

This flame is warm as the companionship of friends is warm.Let us celebrate the richness and diversity of life.

Entry into the Celebrationv2 Fountain of life…Pulse of life…Breath of life…All Earth is filled with the presentness of God.

v1 Holy! Holy! Holy!The cosmos is filled with the presentness of God.All Holy! Holy! Holy!Earth is filled with the presentness of God.v2 Together this day, let us sensethe face of God in all creativity.

Note: (i) A suggested process for introducing new hymns, called Hymn of the Month, can be found HERE(ii) Additional Special Purpose Hymns that cover major international events or themes can be found HEREThey include the categories: 1. Bush (Brush) Fire, 2. Tsunami, Storms/Cyclones, 3. Earthquakes, 4. War/Remembrance, 5. Caregiving, 6. God as Mother, 7. Human Trafficking, 8. Disabled, 9. Migration/Refugees

Hymn The people stand as they are able, to sing"God of the Galaxies"(Tune: ‘Cheam')54(v1-3) AAGod of the galaxies spinning in space,God of the smallest seed, our living source,yours is the gift of this beautiful place.Let us care for your gardenand honour the earth.

Careless and covetous, gross are our greeds,taking the riches the garden provides,wasting its goodness, forgetting its needs.Let us care for your gardenand honour the earth.

Forests and rivers are ravaged and die,raped is the land till it bleeds in its clay,silenced the birdsong and plundered the sea.Let us care for your gardenand honour the earth.Remain standing

Opening SentencesThe spirit of Creativity God has hovered over the waters…

We invite the cosmos to worship with us:AllWe invite glittering galaxies high in the skyto radiate the splendour of God’s presence.

We call distant domains of space to celebrate with us.All We invite nebula, nova and black holesto thank God for their fascinating formation.

We summon that piece of stardust called Earth,All To pulse with the rhythm of God's presenceand celebrate God's glory in this planet garden.

We invite millions of living species to dance with life,All The turtle, the toad and the elephant,the earthworm, the ant and the dragonfly.

We invite every creature in the web of creationAll To consciously connect with othersin this community called the cosmos.

Act of AwarenessIn the midst of our everydaywhen life is fulland we are about all those things we are about,we scarcely have time to fit it all in.

And yet, here we are,squeezing into this not-so-special-anymore daya moment to glimpse the Holy,to step out of timeinto a timelessness of awe.

With those who have gone this way before,and those who have yet to venture forth,we travel roads of wonderand give thanks (Gretta Vosper/hb).

OR

We pray:As we reflect on the mysteries of the cosmos,we celebrate our connectedness to this vast web of life.

May we connect with all living beings.May we sense the presentness of God in the stars and the planets.May we care for the oceans, the earth and the air.May it be so.

Hymn (Cont.) "God of the Galaxies"(Tune: ‘Cheam') 54(v4-5) AALet there be beauty, and let there be airfragrant with peace, never poisoned with fear,freed from the plagues of pollution and war.Let us care for your gardenand honour the earth.

Life is a holy thing, life is a whole,linking each creature and blessing us all,making connections of body and soul.Let us care for your gardenand honour the earth. Shirley Erena MurrayThe people sit after the hymn

WelcomeIn your own words

A warm welcome is extended to all.Especially those who are worshipping at (NN for the first timeor who have returned after an absence.

Your presence both enriches us and this time of celebration together.Refer to printed liturgy.Fellowship hour following worship.Those visiting, please sign our Visitors book.

OR

A warm welcome is extended to all.Especially those who may be joining us for a first time.

Your presence enriches this gathering and contributes to the creative evolution of community. Thanks for the gift of you! (Central United, Moncton, Canada)

RememberingThis morning we conclude the celebration called Season of Creation.Today’s theme is Cosmos Sunday.

A eucalyptus leaf was given to you as you entered.Smell the leaf and rub it between your fingers,and share with the person next to youtimes when you were acutely consciousof the vast world of time and space.Conversation

Silence

We remember moments of wonder,sensing the infinite world of space,feeling the mystery of the moment.All We remember and rejoice.

Now away from the busyness of lifeand in the silence of this sacred place,let us give thanks for the gift of life,and the mystery of an endless horizonstretching out across the universe.(Silence)

Dance, creation, dance!All We give thanks for living cosmosso much a part of who we are!

Music of Celebration

EXPLORING

Reading from our broad Religious TraditionA story from our biblical tradition will be told by (NN).

Reader: In effortless phrases, well-worn upon our lips,
simple forms of inspiration catch us, and call to us again.
All As these words settle into our minds,may we feel them stir and lift our hearts. (Gretta Vosper/ab)

Traditional Gospel:Luke 16:19-31 (Inclusive Text)

Jesus told the following story:'There was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linenand feast magnificently every day.

And at the gate there lay a beggar called Lazarus,covered with sores, who longed to fill himselfwith the scraps that fell from the rich man's table. Dogs even came and licked his sores.

Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angelsto be in the company of Sarah and Abraham.

The rich man also died and was buried.In his torment in Hades he looked up and saw Sarah and Abraham a long way offand Lazarus resting in their company.

So the rich man cried out,"Sarah and Abraham, pity meand send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue,for I am in agony in these flames."

"My child," they replied, "remember that during your lifegood things came your way,just as bad things came the way of Lazarus.

“Now Lazarus is being comforted herewhile you are in agony. But that is not all:between us and you a great gulf has been fixed,to stop anyone wanting to, crossing from our sideto yours, and to stop any crossing from your side to ours."

The rich man replied,"I beg you then to send Lazarus to my family house,since I have five brothers, to give them warningso they do not come to this place of torment too."

"They have Moses and the prophets," they replied,"let them listen to them."

"Ah, no, Sarah and Abraham," said the rich man,"but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent."

Then they answered,"If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets,they will not be convinced even if someoneshould rise from the dead.”

OR

“Renewing Earth: From Anthropocentrism to EcocentrismBy Thomas Berry

The task of renewing Earth belongs to Earth, as the renewal of any organism takes place from within. Yet we humans have our own special role, a leading role in the renewal, just as we had the dominant role in the devastation. We can fulfil this role, however, only if we move our basic life orientations from a dominant anthropocentrism to a dominant ecocentrism. In effecting this change we need :to listen to the voices of Earth and it multitude of living and non-living modes of expression.

We should be listening to the stars in the heavens and the sun and the moon, to the mountains and the plains, to the forests and rivers and seas that surround us, to the meadows and the flowering grasses, to the songbirds and the insects and to their music, especially in the evening and the early hours of the night. We need to experience, to feel, and to see these myriad creatures all caught up in the celebration of life.

Season of Creation4 Gospel: (Open English Bible/A New New Testament)
John 6: 41-44, 47-51

The Judeans began murmuring against Jesus for saying: 'I am the bread which came down from heaven'.
"Is this not Jesus, Joseph's son," they asked, "whose father and mother we know?
How is it that he now says that he has come down from heaven?"

"Do not murmur among yourselves," said Jesus in reply.
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me
draws him to me; and I will raise that one up
at the last day...

"In truth I tell you, the person who trusts in me has eternal life.
I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, and yet died.
The bread that comes down from heaven is such that
whoever eats it will never die.

"I am the living bread that has come down from heaven.
Anyone eating of this bread will live into the ages;
and the bread that I will give is my flesh,
which I will give for the life of the world."

OR

New Gospel:
The Gospel of Truth 19: 1-7 (Open English Bible/A New New Testament)

For the Father is sweet and within his desire is goodness.
He knows what is yours in which you might find rest.
For by the fruits one knows what is yours.

The Father's children are his fragrance
for they are from the beauty of his face.
Because of this, the Father loves his fragrance
and discloses it everywhere,
and when it mixes with matter it gives his fragrance to the light.
And in his tranquility he makes it surpass every form and every sound.
For ears do not smell the fragrance,
but it is breath and spirit that smells
and draws the fragrance to itself.

Contemporary Exploration
A Sermon suitable for
this day can be found in my book, Against the Stream. Progressive
Christianity Between Pulpit and Pew.

Silence for Personal Reflection

AFFIRMING

A Litany (Optional)In response to the word reflected on, and in solidarity with the Universe and all who dwell therein,let us stand and share a contemporary litany.The people stand as they are able

Out of the stars in their flight,out of the dust of eternity,All here have we come,Stardust and sunlight, minglingthrough time and through space.

Out of the stars have we come, up from time;Out of the stars have we come.All Time out of time before timein the vastness of space,earth spun to orbit the sun,

Earth with the thunder ofmountains newborn, the boiling of seas.All Earth warmed by sun, lit by sunlight:This is our home;Out of the stars have we come.

Mystery hidden in mystery, back through all time;Mystery rising from rocks in the storm and the sea.All Out of the stars, rising from rocks and the sea, kindled by sunlight on earth, arose life.

Ponder this thing in your heart; ponder with awe:All Out of the sea to the land,out of the shallows came ferns.

Out of the sea to the land,up from darkness to light,Rising to walk and to fly, out of the sea trembled life.All Ponder this thing in your heart, life up from sea:Eyes to behold, throats to sing, mates to love.

Life from the sea,warmed by sun, washed by rain,All life from within, giving birth, rose to love.

This is the wonder of time;this is the marvel of space;All out of the stars swung the earth;life upon earth rose to love.

This is the marvel of life,rising to see and to know;All Out of your heart, cry wonder:sing that we live. Robert Weston/slt

OR

A Cosmic Credov1 I believe in the Cosmos and its processes as a reflection and embodiment of the Mystery within and beyond it, the nameless Mystery which I dare to call God.

All I celebrate the creative, transforming and empowering processes and discern these both in the life and death of Jesus Christ and in the continuing celebration of his existence.

v2 I believe that forgiveness is of the essence of love,that change is of the essence of life,and that the individual only finds complete fulfillment in community.

All I see death as part of a process of the recycling of life and the transformation of memory and the unity of energy as part of the heaven of the eternal NOW.

v3 This is the way which I seek to walk with courage, compassion and with a song in my heart.All So be it. (William L Wallace)

Sharing 'The Peace’Let us take a moment to celebrate each other.

May a heart of peace rest with you.AllAnd also with you. (David Galston/q)You are invited to share the peace with your neighbours.

Hymn People stand as they are able, to sing“Celebrate the Cosmic Birthing” (Tune: ‘Hymn to Joy’)Celebrate the cosmic birthing,Flash of primal energy:Swirling gases, densing matterStuff of galaxies to be.Celebrate the life-force pulsingthrough these 15 billion years,Trillion, trillion stars emergingFrom the cradle of the spheres.

OfferingsOur offerings for the work of ministry in this place and beyond,shall now be received.

PresentationFreely have we received of giftsthat minister to our needs of body and spirit.We give thanks for moments when we feel we live in a worldthat is not indifferent to our needs.

May we continue to live and be with each otherin a way that shows we are alsonot indifferent to others needs.

CELEBRATING

With the ChildrenChildren gather on the conversation mat

Conversation:

"Somewhere someone:”The kingdom of love is coming because:All somewhere someone is kind when others are unkind,somewhere someone shares with another in need,somewhere someone refuses to hate, while others hate,somewhere someone is patient - and waits in love,somewhere someone returns good for evil,somewhere someone serves another, in love,somewhere someone is calm in a storm,somewhere someone is loving everybody.Is that someone you? (jke)

Reflections and PrayersCare Candle:We are people of all ages who enter this spacebringing our joys and concerns.Joys and Concerns shared

Focused Thoughts:

Listening Response:When we are grieving or sad,When we are challenged,When we need help,All This flame guides us out of the darkness.

When we are cheerful,When we celebrate,When we accomplish a great task,When we return to a place that makes us happy,All This flame reminds us to share our happiness with others(Adapt/APalmer)

And so we take a flame and light our special Care Candle…The Care Candle is lit

For ourselves, for those named or remembered, and in solidarity with those
who have not the freedom to express their concern or celebrationfor fear of discrimination or condemnation.

In all our joys and in all our concerns, may we be ever mindfulof the presentness of the sacred among us,and to see the new possibilities of the now.

The 'Abba' Prayer: (Optional)You are invited to pray in the spirit of the Abba/Lord's Prayer, and in your original language, as that is appropriate

All Loving Presence, luminous in all creation,hallowed be your name.Thy kin-domcome.

May we reflect on earththe yielding perfection of the heavens.Help us to receive an illumined measure from the earth this day.

Forgive us when we trespass against others,human and other than human,as we forgive others who trespass against us.Keep us on the path of wisdomwhen we are tempted to take the selfish path.

May it be your rule we follow,your power we exercise,and your radiance that allures.May this be the truth that guides our lives,the ground from which our future will grow,until we meet again.(Bruce Sanguin/dddc)

PARTING

HymnThe people stand as they are able, to sing“A Firemist and a Planet” (Tune: 'Thornbury', 76 76D). 343(v1-2) SLTA firemist and a planet,a crystal and a cell,a starfish and a saurian,and caves where ancients dwelt;the sense of law and beauty,a face turned from the sod- some call it evolution,and others call it God.

Haze on the far horizon,the infinite tender sky,the ripe, rich tints of [wheat]fields,and wild geese sailing high;and over high and low-land,the charm of golden rod- some people call it autumn,and others call it God.Remain standing

Parting WordsLet us take on this week’s lifewith renewed hope and imagination…The Community Candle is extinguished

Remembering again the wonder and the mystery of the Cosmos…

Will you care for Planet Earth?All We will empathise with the oceans.We will care for the fauna.We will be sensitive to the cries of creationin song and storm.And we will celebrate life!

Words of BlessingThe blessing of God:Star maker,Friend maker,Wisdom maker,make and remake you allin the image of God. (Ruth Burgess/bb)All Amen! May it be so.

Hymn (Cont) “A Firemist and a Planet” (Tune: 'Thornbury', 76 76D). 343(v3-4) SLTLike tides on crescent sea-beach,when moon's so new and thin,into our hearts high yearningscome welling, surging in,come from the mystic oceanwhose rim not foot has trod- some people call it longing,and others call it God.

A sentry lone and frozen,a mother starved for her brood,and Socrates' dread hemlock,and Jesus on the rood;and millions, who, though nameless,the straight, hard pathway trod,- some call it consecration,and others call it God. William H CarruthThe people sit after the hymn